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Category Archives: 2018 resolutions

Part of my New Year’s Resolutions include doing something “at long last” at least once a month. This means something I’ve been meaning to do: watching a movie, visit a local shop, make a particular dish. It’s okay if I’ve done the thing before, as long as it’s something I’ve been meaning to do (again).

But it’s hard to come up with things on off the top of my head, and it’s already April, and I feel like I’m falling behind.

So I’m going to list things here as I think of them. It’ll be easier to keep my resolution if I have things to fall back to:

Watch John Wick

Watch Mamma Mia

Watch La La Land

Visit The Cheese Mongers (I just found out about them but STILL COUNTS as an “at long last”)

I know there are more but that’s what on my mind at the moment. I’ll keep track of everything on this page.

My good friend Meg Crane and I had an excellent goal-setting session in December. Since then, I’ve continued to think about and distill my goals, and I’m both excited and optimistic about this year. It’s not going to be perfect, but it’s going to be awesome.

Word for the year: health.

I’m so grateful for my health and want to take whatever steps I can to preserve it. That’s my one-word focus for the year. I want to be in the best condition I can do take on the world!

It’s no surprise to anyone at this point, but Gretchen Rubin’s book Happier at Home is another home run!

Although I listen to her podcast and have read several of her books, I somehow missed this one and didn’t realize that she’s actually completed two happiness projects. The first one, about which she wrote The Happiness Project, was followed a few years later by a second, nine-month project which followed the school year.

This second one is the focus of Happier at Home, which covers such topics as possessions, family, marriage, body, and neighbourhood. Written in a very similar style to the first project analysis, Happier at Home examines some of the same questions: whether it’s selfish to pursue happiness, whether money can in fact buy happiness, and to what extent you can influence the happiness of those around you (and vice versa).

I honestly have nothing bad to say about this book. Rubin artfully combines anecdotes with research, so she can say “here’s what worked for me,” while at the same time explaining why that particular behaviour is backed up with research – or, in a couple of cases, how she deliberately defied the research and did what works for her.

Her key premise in both of her happiness projects was to “Be Gretchen,” and she talks throughout Happier at Home about the importance of doing what is true for yourself. She presents the research, but also shares the real-life changes she made or how she was able to incorporate the info into her home.

I could go on, but I’ll spare you. Go read it! Gretchen Rubin does not disappoint.